1. HOW TO WRITE A CONCEPT PAPER
● The concept paper defines an idea or a
concept and explains its essence in order to
clarify the “whatness” of that idea or concepts.
● It answers the questions: what is it and what
about it (Dadufalza 1996:183)
2. ABSTRACT
A concept paper enables
in putting thoughts and
ideas into paper for
consideration of
research, it develops the
research proposal which
can either business or
academic oriented.
3. Steps in writing a Concept paper
1. Concept paper title
-this should be a brief as possible and to
the point such by a glance one would
know exactly the paper’s intention.
Example: “Leveraging on Mobile Payment
Methods to Gain Competitive Advantage by
Local Based Business”
4. 2. Introduction
● Introduce the concept by giving a brief on how
it will contribute to the organization or company
having more opportunities as a result.
● State your understanding of the main objective
of the targeted area of the implementation,
clearly introducing the gap intended to be
addressed.
5. Mobile payment methods have popularity with big businesses operating in large towns and cities
across the world. These payment methods enable the business customers to access their cash at
the point of sale and do not need to have physical money to complete their transactions. This study
will therefore help in understanding the mobile payment methods preferences for the local based
business and how and why these preferences have failed to prevail. The research will therefore
address that gap that is viewed as the low uptake of mobile payment methods by the local based
businesses which are essentially operating in remote areas. This concept builds upon the various
insights that have been undertaken by various researchers in the business and information
technology field to bridge the gap of strategic implementation of information technology systems
in business to gain competitive advantage.
6. 3. Needs for the study
● Should have a concrete
evidence in the sense that
the source of the need must
be documented and
verifiable.
● Have enough answers to
the questions intended for
the study
7. 4. Background
● It is important to outline several studies that have been
undertake on the topical area summarizing their
conclusive evidence and relevance to the study area.
● A more descriptive background will then be structured
from the worldview, regional, and localized perspective.
● It seeks to solve the gap.
8. 5. Objectives
● It should be stated with the
word “To” and linked to the
general and specific area of
the study.
● Both the general and specific
objectives must be
regularized to conform with
the topic of the concept.
9. Example
The research paper seeks to
achieve its general objective
of leveraging on mobile
payment methods to gain
competitive advantage by
focusing on the following
objectives;
1. To determine the influence
of perceived risks on the use
of mobile payment to gain
competitive advantage by
local based businesses
10. 2. To determine the influence of
M-payment characteristics on the
use of mobile payment methods
to gain competitive advantage by
local based businesses
3. To assess the influence of
personal innovativeness on use
of mobile payment methods to
gain competitive advantage by
local based businesses
